Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to formally request a review of the grade I received for my final research assignment. The circumstances surrounding its grading raise concerns about fairness and specifically consistency.

This assignment was graded during the TA strike, which altered its weighting and left me with no information about who marked it. No rubric was provided, and the grading criteria was very unclear. The assignment included two components: an essay outline and the final paper. I received a grade of 90% on the outline from my TA, accompanied only by the comment/feedback, “I can’t wait to read your paper!”. This outline was heavily weighted toward the quality and quantity of research, and no concerns about my research were noted at that stage or anything else regarding where my paper was potentially lacking.

When I received the final paper, I was surprised to see a significantly lower mark, accompanied by only five words of feedback, including “poor research.” This feedback is extremely inconsistent with my earlier evaluation, the research outline. Additionally, I expanded and improved upon the research from my outline, using more sources than required and building upon the previous research I had completed to ensure I was doing enough. No rubric or detailed explanation was provided to clarify the difference in grading or to where specifically my assignment was insufficient (such as a revised paper with feedback).

Following the issue of my grade, I contacted Professor Cox to request a re-evaluation. He initially agreed to review the paper upon his return, but despite multiple follow up emails over several weeks, I received no further response.

In summary, there is a large and unexplained discrepancy between my outline grade and my final paper grade. Furthermore, I was given no rubric for the assignment before or after receiving my mark and feedback on both components of the assignment was minimal and very inconsistent. If there is anything additional you may require please let me know.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter,
Austin